Passive Investor Tips is a weekly series hosted by full-time passive investor and Best Ever Show host, Travis Watts. In each bite-sized episode, Travis breaks down passive investor topics, simplifying the philosophy and mindset while providing tactical, valuable information on how to be a passive investor.
In this episode, Travis shares five mindset shifts you can adopt to increase your investing results. From letting go of what’s not in your control to abandoning the scarcity mentality, Travis explores why most of us are living below our max potential.
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Transcript
Travis Watts:
Welcome back, Best Ever listeners to another episode of Passive Investor Tips. I'm your host, Travis Watts. In today's episode, what we're talking about are five mindset shifts and how to increase your results. And disclaimers as always, never financial advice, not telling you or anyone what to do with your money. Please seek licensed financial advice with that in mind.
The U.S. Marine Corps subscribes to what's called the 40% rule. And the 40% rule is actually pretty simple. It's when your mind is telling you I'm done. I'm tapped out. I can't possibly go any further. You're at 40% capacity, meaning, you have 60% left in the tank. Said another way, most of us are living far below our max potential. So with that in mind, let's go ahead and dive in to five mindset shifts that can help you increase your results.
And number one dates back over 2,000 years ago. It's rooted in the stoic philosophy and it's simply focusing on what is in our control. Worrying about what the Federal Reserve's gonna do, what the government's gonna do, what policies may or may not pass, what may or may not happen to your investment portfolio is largely out of your control. And it often neglects us from being able to focus on what is in our control, such as the ability to continue educating ourselves on investing, what we do from a personal finance standpoint and a savings rate, and last, the ability or option to choose to take action.
Number two is to adopt a growth mentality mindset. So on the flip side of this would be a scarcity mindset, which suggests I have this much money or this much income, I better protect it and not let anybody touch it. And a growth mentality would be suggesting I'm happy with the income that I earn, but I bet I could grow it more and I can challenge myself to do more.
And number three is spending. Consciously understanding what things really bring true value to you and what material possessions may not be necessary. I've always been the type of person to live below my means even when I made minimum wage. After college I maintained a savings rate of about 10 to 15 percent of my net earnings, and as my income grew over the years, I did elevate my lifestyle, but not to the point of ever being paycheck to paycheck. So the savings rate may have gone from 20 to 30% then up to 50% as my income grew. I encourage you to think about savings in terms of percentages and not dollars. For example, if I told you last month I saved $5,000, you might think, wow, that's incredible. But then if I told you, yeah, well, I make a million dollars per month, that's hardly any savings in that instance. So think about percentages.
And number four is to focus on the small wins along your journey. And this is all about psychology and motivation. I doubt you or I would be very motivated to sit back for the next 20 years waiting to achieve our long-term goal. It's very easy to get sidetracked when we do this, so try celebrating the small wins along the way. Maybe you make a new investment. Celebrate. Maybe you learn something new from a book or a podcast. Celebrate. Maybe you meet a new valuable connection in your network. Celebrate, because all of this keeps you on the right track. And really this is no different than any other type of goal setting exercise. If you have a health goal, it's the same psychology and motivation. If you just say, look, once I lose 40 pounds, I'll be happy. Once I get my six pack abs or my perfect physique, then I'll be happy. Instead, focus on the small wins. I ate a healthy meal today. I went to the gym a few times this week. Celebrate every month of progress that you make.
And number five is to focus on what other income you could be generating besides your full time, active job or career, maybe you could start a side hustle, maybe you could become a part time investor, maybe you could start a side business and remember that there's a limit to how much we can cut in terms of our expenses, but there's no limit to how much we could potentially earn. And who knows that side hustle or side business could end up turning into a full time focus for you over time. So double down on what's working.
So I hope these short five tips were helpful. Remember, education is relatively meaningless if you don't take action and apply it. So I encourage you to choose one or two of these and try applying them in your own life. You're listening to Passive Investor Tips. I'm your host, Travis Watts. I'd appreciate it if you'd like, share, and subscribe to these episodes. It helps these videos get in front of more investors like yourself. Until our next episode. Have a best ever week and we'll see you then.